Thinking of giving up on the rangers at 6 weeks

[vermontgal]

This is my first year raising meat birds, and it might be my last. I have 12 rangers in a 4x6 tractor. They will be 6 weeks old in 2 days.

The biggest issue is that I want to go away for 5 days, and I am feeding /watering them 2x a day. I can get a friend to check on my layers, no problem, but 2x a day + moving the tractor for the rangers feels like too much to ask. They're pooping a lot, and the tractor should probably be moved 2-3 x per day.

I know the rangers would like more space, and will NEED it in a couple weeks. I am not sure that I am up to building them an extension. I've built too many chicken coops this past year!

I am thinking of having them butchered at the end of this week. I don't know for sure, but I'd guess they'd mostly end up in the 2-2.5 lb range? Sort of a shame to abandon like this, but it might make the most sense.

Any thoughts or advice?

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I have rangers myself and we can't wait to see what they turn out to be. So far they are very clean non smelly little chicks (26 of them plus two of my chicks my silkie hatched out) 28 total. We are building them an 8*8 coop and letting them out all day to free range and locking them up at night. I don't know...if I were you I think I would stick it out and just maybe bring it up to the people watching the layers and see if they are willing. They may be fine with it. I would try to stick it out...you already put so much money into it why not try?? I'm pretty sure we will do this every year. But we don't vacation either LOL And if we ever plan a vacation we will just skip the meaties that year. Good luck!

 

[BattleChickens]

We have five 7.5wk old and five 4 wk old meaties in our 5'x6' tractor and we feed them once a day on a 12/12 schedule - we give them their food at about 8 in the morning and take their food away at 8 every night. We also move our tractor once every couple of weeks, but our birds free-range almost all day, too. I'm sure you can find someone to help you out for 5 days . . . Know any teenagers (responsible-ish) who would house-sit for cheap? It WOULD be a shame to give up now. Just think of how big they'll be in just 2 more weeks! I know that's not a whole lot of help, but you're almost there - DON'T GIVE UP NOW!

 

[BattleChickens]

Quote:
CLEAN? NON-SMELLY? Man! How old are your meaties and WHAT are they? My Cornish cross are poopie and STINK!!!

 

[vermontgal]

The rangers get stinkier / poopier after about 3 weeks. Don't think the rangers aren't poopy... they're not bad as chicks but they change fast!!

I need to figure out how to let them range them more - we're in the city.

 

[vermontgal]

PS. Battlechickens, with rangers, I'm looking at raising them to 10-11 weeks, so I still have a month or a little more.

 

[AHappychick]

I say fatten them up one more week and process half of them then it wont be so bad to raise the other half to a bigger size, thats what I did with my meaties

start with the biggest thats all

 

[vermontgal]

Hangin Wit My Peeps - when you say you are free ranging your rangers, do you mean literally free range (no fence?) Just wondering how they are at that kind of approach? Do they come back inside on their own?

 

[Peruvian]

2sq ft per bird is almost 4x the industry standard. Keep that in mind.

We just went on a 4 day vacation and I asked my friend to feed and water our 30 birds 1x/day (I have a 3 gallon waterer and a large feeder). He was nice enough to move the tractor a few times as well. They won't die if they don't get moved and a 2x6' tractor can't be that hard to move anyway. My fried was used to layers and didn't feed the broilers enough. They just ended up eating more greens and bugs (it was noticeable where the tractor was). If you need a bigger waterer/feeder get it and your neighbor won't mind stopping by 1x/day. Figure out how much are they eating in a 12 hr period and just tell your neighbor to feed them that many scoops per day.

 

[vermontgal]

The biggest problem with not moving the tractor is how poopy it will get??! Any suggestions on how to address that?

I'm also more concerned with this than I might be because the tractor is over at my neighbor's at the edge of their yard (in the weeds). If I don't move the tractor for 5 days, there would be a big, poopy, slimey, disgusting section of ground there? Even with moving the tractor at least 1x day, it is making more of a mess than I thought it would (gross). Fortunately the chicks are also eating their bishop's weed!